KHARTOUM (Reuters) - China, under international pressure to
do more to end bloodshed in Darfur, urged Western powers
Wednesday to persuade rebel groups to attend peace talks with
the government of its Sudanese ally.

Liu Guijin, the special Chinese envoy on Darfur, also
repeated calls for the Khartoum government to show more
flexibility on "technical" issues still blocking the deployment
of a joint U.N.-African Union peacekeeping force in the
war-ravaged western Sudanese region.

Liu, whose country is a big investor in Sudan's oil
industry and is its largest weapons supplier, reported no
significant steps forward in political talks on Darfur.

ADVERTISEMENT

"Unfortunately on the political process, no substantial
progress has been made," Liu said in Khartoum after discussions
with top Sudanese leaders, including President Omar Hassan
al-Bashir.

Of the five key Darfur rebel groups, only two have agreed
to unify their positions and join the peace talks, stalled
since the failed summit in Libya in October.

The two key rebel factions, the Justice and Equality
Movement, or JEM, -- the biggest military group -- and the
populist Sudan Liberation Movement, or SLM, led by Abdel Wahed
Mohamed el-Nur, were still putting conditions on attending any
talks.

"We urge our Western friendly countries ... to use their
positive influence to engage those factions who have until now
resisted to come over to the negotiating table, to join the
political process," Liu said.

Failing to launch a successful political process, he
argued, means the joint AU-U.N. mission would not be
"sustainable."

TROUBLE WITH TROOPS

Sudan has so far rejected the notion of accepting
non-African contribution in the joint AU-U.N. force of 26,000
troops until all African soldiers have deployed in Darfur.

Liu said Khartoum had not "closed the door regarding
accepting non-African countries."

International experts estimate some 200,000 have died and
2.5 million have been forced to flee their homes since the
conflict flared in 2003 when rebels took up arms against the
central government, accusing it of neglecting the region.

The United States calls the violence a genocide. Sudan
rejects this and says only 9,000 people have lost their lives.

"We want security on the ground first. There should be
conflict suspension before addressing the root causes of the
problem," he told Reuters by telephone from France.

China's role in Sudan has come under new scrutiny since
film director Steven Spielberg quit as an artistic director to
the 2008 Beijing Olympic games, saying China had failed to use
its influence in Khartoum to seek peace in Darfur.

Separately, New York-based rights watchdog Human Rights
Watch criticized the U.N. Security Council -- of which China is
a veto-wielding member along with Russia, the United States,
Britain and France -- for keeping about what it said were
Khartoum's recent attacks on civilian villages in West Darfur.

The group said in a statement that the council's inaction
has given Sudan a green light to continue attacking civilian
targets, flouting international law and council resolutions.

"The Sudanese government's recent attacks take us back to
the very darkest days of the conflict," said Georgette Gagnon,
Africa director at the organization. "The Security Council
shouldn't stand by as though this is 'business as usual."'